Tennis
Tennis in Belgium is governed by the Royal Belgian Tennis Federation, which is split into the French-speaking AFT and the Dutch-speaking VTV. Belgium is well known in tennis for the two champions Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters, who were both WTA World No. 1 ranked player in the 2000s. Both players also retired respectively in 2007 and 2008, before they came back to the competition respectively in 2009 and 2010. Clijsters won 41 WTA titles, including three US Open titles and the Australian Open in 2011. Henin won 43 WTA titles, including seven Grand Slam titles (four French Open titles, two US Open titles and the 2004 Australian Open), and a gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics.
Belgium team won the 2001 Fed Cup and finished runner-up in 2006. The current Fed Cup team for Belgium is composed of Kim Clijsters, Yanina Wickmayer, Kirsten Flipkens, Alison Van Uytvanck, and An-Sophie Mestach. Belgium hosted each year the Belgian Open from 1987 on, which was replaced by the Proximus Diamond Games in 2002.
The men's team of Belgium is currently 14th in the ITF Rankings. Their best result is a second place in the 1904 International Lawn Tennis Challenge. The current Belgium Davis Cup team is composed of Xavier Malisse (3 ATP titles), Olivier Rochus (2), Steve Darcis (2) and David Goffin (0).
Former Belgian tennis champions include Filip Dewulf (2 ATP titles), Christophe Rochus, Sabine Appelmans (7 WTA titles) and Dominique Monami (4 WTA titles).
Read more about this topic: Sport In Belgium
Famous quotes containing the word tennis:
“Writing free verse is like playing tennis with the net down.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“Like Olympic medals and tennis trophies, all they signified was that the owner had done something of no benefit to anyone more capably than everyone else.”
—Joseph Heller (b. 1923)
“The boneless quality of English conversation, which, so far as I have heard it, is all form and no content. Listening to Britons dining out is like watching people play first-class tennis with imaginary balls.”
—Margaret Halsey (b. 1910)